Soaking In My New Culture

The locals in Ireland are quite like the locals back home in the states. They eat eggs for breakfast, with some fruit, hash browns, cereal if they want, some brown bread, which that piece we do not have in America, but it is so good. They normally have a glass or coffee, orange juice, tea or anything like that next to their breakfast as well. For lunch they like to eat sandwiches, with some coleslaw or sometimes some salt and vinegar chips on the side. Dinner is very similar to back home as well. They have their traditional Irish meals such as the obvious, bangers and mash, shepard's pie, and then they have other things that Americans would recognize. They serve you burgers and chips, or french fries as they like to call them, pasta, pizza and anything else really that you love to eat back home. The food here isn't really a big difference from the states so I haven't really needed to get adjusted too much.

My classes here are as follows, I am talking Introduction to Folklore, Introduction to Celtic Civilization, Irish for Beginners and Modern Europe. All these classes only add up to about 15 credits back home, but they add up to 20 credits here in Ireland. Each class here is 5 credits no matter what level it is. Personally I am really enjoying all of my classes. I am learning how to speak Irish, all the folklore, tales and stories that coincide with the Irish culture, I'm learning about the Iron Age Ireland, Medieval Ireland and who the "Celts" were, and I'm learning about Europe in regards to the starting of the Renaissance all the way to twentieth century Europe. The main difference between my classes here and back at home, is here there are only one maybe two major assignments, such as papers and then our final essay for our exam. The assignments are either worth 25 or 50 percent of our grade and then the final is that remaining percentage. It is weird because I do not have that cushion of extra assignments just incase if I do not do that well on my major essay. As I said, it is very weird, but it also forces me to really focus and try my absolute best with my essays.

The classroom style here reminds me a lot of the states. There are lectures, labs, smaller classes and everything really that is normal to me. Really the only two major differences are they do not really have classes that are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, then have a different class Tuesday and Thursday. All of the classes are sprawled out and you could have the same class in lecture and then the lab version the same day. Going off of that, you have a lab or even two labs for every class you take here. It's not like you have a science lecture then you have a lab where you work with chemicals. Here it works that no matter what class you take, there is always going to be one or more classes that are the same sprawled out over different days.

The cost of living on campus here is probably about the same with living on campus back at WMU. Also keep in mind I am only here for a semester so that comes into play as well. Groceries, pub food, drinks and everything like that is about the same, too. It varies where you go, some areas are more expensive than the others. The thing that gets you bad in regards to pricing is when you look at something and it says 2 euro when back at home it could be around $3.50 you think that is so much cheaper, but in reality you need to do a small conversion in your head. It may say 2 euros, but if you are using a credit or debit card, you will get charged in US dollars so the price goes up. Most times the conversion isn't that bad, but you always, no matter what need to keep that in mind. It is something that will trick you sometimes.

Speaking here is something I am very grateful for. Almost everyone here speaks English, they just have a very thick brogue. The Irish language is dying out because when Britain invaded Ireland, they forbid people to speak Irish so it forced people who spoke fluent Irish to move to the West coast. Still now-a-days, people who speak fluent Irish live on the West coast, but there are still some people who live on the East coast and in the middle of the island who speak fluent Irish, but the main language that is learned now from the day you are born is English. Of course it is upsetting to hear that the native language is dying out, but luckily people are trying to bring it back. I am very thankful that I can understand people in my host country. That was a definite plus in the decision process for where I wanted to study abroad. For example, when I went to Germany, so many people spoke German that it provided a little bit of difficulty when asking for directions, ordering, etc. It was a good challenge to not know fluent German, but with not having any speaking background for Germany, it would have made things a bigger challenge in the long run if I would have stayed longer than a weekend.

Coming to Ireland was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It has forced to me to branch out and really experience life. The friends I have made here, so far, have really challenged me as well. Living here has a form of familiarity to it. Just like living back at WMU or back home in Illinois, especially Illinois, it reminds me of living just on the outskirts of a city, as well as being so close that going there at night or a day trip is so worth it. It really is starting to feel like home and for that I am grateful.